“-and then I fell in front of everyone! But she- Belle? Hellooooo? Anyone there?”

My head snapped up and I stared at Tyler. He was fast becoming an annoyance, and I dreaded transfiguration. In fact, the only subject I liked somewhat was Potions, with Professor Slughorn. He had invited me to join his ‘Slug Club’ whatever that is. I accepted. Anything to get away from Tom.

“What is it, Tyler?” I asked, letting exhaustion drip with every word. He remained quiet, however, and he suddenly looked stony-faced, keeping his eyes above my shoulder. “Tyler?! What?!”

“Hello Belle.”

My head snapped backwards and for a second I couldn’t breathe. He, Tom, hadn’t talked to me in so long, and I had so carefully avoided his face, in case I’d give in and apologize. But now, that his angelic face was so close to me, I felt the wind knock out of me. My mind was telling me to ignore him, but my heart wanted to talk to him so bad. And of course, my heart gave in.

“Hi Tom.”

Even Tom seemed surprised, but changed his expression quickly, into a charming smile. “The Hogsmeade trip is tonight, you know.”

Before I could even respond, Tyler stood up abruptly, knocking his parchment to the stone hard ground. “She’s going with me, Riddle!”

Tom smirked and narrowed his eyes into thin slits. “You, Longbottom, you? Why would she want to have anything to do with you?”

“Belle, I would like to talk to you in private, seeing as how nosy some people can be.” Tom said, staring pointedly at Tyler.

I took a quick look at Tyler, whose eyes seemed to beg me not to follow Tom, but I couldn’t help it. I stood up and followed him out into the corridor.

“Don’t hurt Tyler’s feelings like that.” I whispered.

“Honestly, Belle, you can do so much better than that blood-traitor. Anyway, I hope he was lying, and you’re not going with him tonight.” Tom said smoothly.

“Your delusional, you know that, right?” I asked quietly. I sighed and continued. “But, yea, I’m really going with him and some other person. I think her name was Augusta. The point is though; I wasn’t going to wait for you. I have full rights to do whatever I please, and tonight, I’m going with Tyler. Unlike you, I do care about hurting peoples feelings.”

Tom stared at me thoughtfully, his eyes blank, but when he talked, I knew he had thought this through. “So you want to find a way to ditch him?”

“Tom, why do you lot need me anyway?”

Tom laughed this time. “You’ll find out in time. As for now, we need to think of a plan for you to ditch that lump of scum.”

“He’s NOT a lump of scum! He’s my friend.” I said, defensively, as Tom continued smirking.

“So, tonight, you’ll go out with him and the other scumbag, and after an hour in Hogsmeade, tell them you have important business to take care of and meet us in the Hogs Head.”

Before I could scold Tom, a strong voice rang out. “Miss Ivory, Mr. Riddle, if you would be as kind as to report into the classroom.”

“Yes sir.” We both said in unison. When we entered the classroom, Tom gave me one last pointed look, before heading off to sit with the others. I walked back next to a sniffling Tyler.

“Sorry, Ty.” I whispered. He gave me a watery smile.

“S’okay. I know you’d never ditch me, I knew you were coming back.” He said. I sighed; if only it was that easy.

The lesson began, and I absent mindly wrote down notes and when the class finally ended, I dashed out before anyone could talk to me. I jogged down staircase upon staircase upon staircase, until I reached the Slytherin Common Room, panting for breath.

“You run fast.”

“Tom?!” I jumped up, startled. “How the heck did you get down here that fast?!”

“So, did you tell the little blood-traitor?” He asked, probably referring to Tyler.

“Erg! Leave me alone!” I snarled, pushing past him and up the staircases into the girl’s dormitory.

Now I was faced with the decision of ditching Tyler Longbottom, the only person who had bothered to call me ‘friend’, or running back to Tom Riddle and joining into whatever they wanted. The choice was easy; and I had made up my mind as I took a shower. When I wore my green dress, I wore it with ease, a smirk playing around my mouth. This was going to be fun.

“Yes please. Two butterbeers, madam.” Augusta said to the maiden who worked at the shop.

“Oh, call me Lucy, dear.” The maiden, Lucy, smiled. She had graying hair and big bones, but her eyes were a light brown and her face shone with…cheeriness? Maybe The Three Broomsticks shined into her heart. I suddenly laughed at my corniness.

“Belle? What are you laughing at…?” Tyler asked, exchanging puzzled looks with Augusta.

“Oh, nothing.”

“You keep doing that though…” Augusta said. I glared at her- ever since we had gotten out of the castle, Augusta and Tyler had been practically unbearable. Their hands would touch, and they’d jump a mile, blushing. Or whatever one of them said, the other would agree wholeheartedly.

“Cant I think in my own mind?” I asked, crossly.

“Er- well, when you keep laughing out loud for no reason, it creeps us out.” Tyler said.

I jumped to my feet. “You know what? I give up! I can’t believe you asked me to join you guys so I could be the third wheel!”

“No-” Augusta began, but I cut her off by laughing.

“Don’t even deny it. How many butterbeers did you order? Two.” She opened her mouth again. “No! Save it! You two have your fun. Whatever, I’ll see you up at the castle.”

I marched out of there defiantly, not looking back. When I got outside, I started to shiver against the fresh October air. Perhaps I shouldn’t have worn my silky, green dress today.

“Excuse me, sir; do you know where I can find the Hogs Head?” I asked the nearest person to me. He stared at me for a minute before answering in a low voice.

“Not a good place for someone to hang around, doll face.”

“Err- okay. But where is it?”

This time the old man let out a wheezy laugh that made me jump out of my skin.
“Take a left at the next alley. But I’m warning you, people who go into the Hogs Head don’t come out the same.”

“Thanks.” I said, rather coolly, before heading off in a sprint. In about 5 minutes, I found it and doubled back.

The sign was creaking steadily, and annoyingly. The windows were so covered with grime that it was hard to see inside. A group of raucous young men walked out of there, laughing like crazy. One of them spotted me and I began to fear for my life. Was Tom serious about this? I ignored the men’s rude comments, and hurried inside. If I thought the outside was shabby looking, it was nothing compared to the inside. The tables were extremely dirty and the air was thick with dust. I sat down in the far corner and tried to avoid anyone’s eyes. Finally, they walked in.

“What kept you so long?!” I asked Tom, angrily.

“We were shopping, obviously.” Rebecca shot at me.

“Come on.” Tom said smoothly, heading over to the counter, where a man stood cleaning a dirty goblet with a dirty washcloth.

“I’m Tom Riddle. I booked a private parlor.”

The man studied Tom, his blue eyes darting to each of us in turn, before he put down the glass, took out a set of keys, and motioned for us to follow. After walking up the creaky stairs, we walked right to a door, which the man unlocked.

“Sir, we would never cause trouble. And may I remind you that I’m paying you 50 Galleons to keep your mouth shut and to not tell anyone we were here?” Tom asked the man, who stared at Tom, before going back downstairs, muttering to himself.

We walked into the parlor, and sat down on the couches. Nat made sure there was a blazing fire in the hearth, while Tom took out his wand and whispered “silencio” at the door. Then, we were all seated, eyes on Tom.

“I missed you too.” I said quietly. The smile would not leave my face.

There was a knock on the door, and Tom went to answer it. He came back with six drinks, and a smirk on his face. Each of us took a goblet full, and once again, there was silence as everyone drank.

“Drink Belle.” Lucretia said.

“Um, what is this stuff?”

“Firewhiskey.”

I gulped. Drinking was not my thing. But they were all watching me, so I did. And the liquid burned my throat badly, but it did feel good. I had tried firewhiskey before, but this was so good.

“Belle, how much dark magic do you know?” Tom asked.

I did NOT intend to answer him, but my mouth felt saggy and weird, and before I could scold Tom, my whole jaw felt tingly.

“A lot.”

And then I knew why this Firewhiskey didn’t taste normal- he had put Veritaserum in it.

“Why do you cut?” Rebecca sneered, as the others laughed. Tears fell down my face from the burning in my lungs.

“Because everything’s so wrong, and I don’t have anyone to talk to about it.”

“Have you ever wanted to be powerful?” Celsus leered.

“No.”

“Do you like Tom?” Natissis asked as everyone laughed, and still more tears fell from my eyes.

“Yes.”

“Aw, isn’t that cute?” Rebecca sniggered.

“What’s your real bloodline?” asked Lucretia.

“Pure-blood.”

“Do you like broccoli?” asked Celsus.

“ENOUGH!” Tom yelled at the same exact time I said “mhmm.”

“I’ll ask the questions by myself if you lot cant do it properly.” Tom stood up and walked to face me. He was inches from my face. “Do you want to sacrifice your life for me and destroy Dumbledore and all the filthy muggleborns once and for all by teaching us how to use the dark arts to our advantage?”

“No.” I responded. Tom blinked and his face grew hard.

“Then you must accept the consequences.”

What I felt next was unworldly. It was as if my whole body was on fire and no matter how much I screamed, no one heard…or cared. My being, my very soul was being tortured. The pain was incredibly unbearable, blinding my eyes, defacing my senses.

And then it stopped as suddenly as it had come. I opened my eyes, and found myself drenched in cold sweat. I was sprawled on the floor, my hair in messy disarray. My green gown was covered in firewhiskey and blood. Shattered cups lay around me. I breathed and tried to stop crying.

So, Tom had used the cruciatus curse on me which explained the pain. Then, they had obviously thrown their goblets at me before they left, which explained the shattered pieces and the blood on me. And now they had left me all alone. All because of a stupid question. I reached into my bag to get my wand, but to my utter shock, they had taken it. Not just the wand, but the whole bag.

Unable to get up, I laid down slowly on the grimy ground, nursing my injured arm, hot tears flowing down. Tom was dangerous, and not just a simple, schoolboy dangerous, but a real human danger. I had stupidly gotten myself into this mess, and now, I was stuck in a dingy bar with a creepy bar tender. The firewhiskey was like a weak fire inside me, but when I thought of everything, the fire roared dangerously.